‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 1, Episode 2: Battles Begin

Season 1, Episode 2: ‘Battle at the Binary Stars’

Early in the run of “Star Trek: Discovery,” it is clear that character development will be a slow burn. In the franchise’s first serialized television show, everything else takes a back seat to action. For now, fans will have to be patient and just enjoy the dazzling special effects.

In “Battle at the Binary Stars,” we do learn about Burnham’s back story through flashbacks. We see her first meeting with Captain Georgiou seven years prior, in which Sarek has to reprimand her for being rude after introducing Burnham as his ward. We learn that Burnham was the first human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy — a reverse Worf, if you will. Sonequa Martin-Green portrays Burnham in these scenes as someone with a hard shell waiting to be broken. We also see Sarek save Burnham’s life as a child with a mindmeld, although not much context is given as to where or when this was. Or why.

We don’t learn much about the Klingons, however, despite all their screen time. T’Kuvma is attempting to unite the 24 Klingon houses after “generations” of disarray. We don’t exactly know why the empire has been in such chaos nor do we know why the houses are flocking to T’Kuvma, as fearsome as he looks. His main draw seems to be that he’s obtained a cloaking device.

The case for T’Kuvma, according to his speech to the great Klingon houses, is that the Federation has mixed races and Klingons shouldn’t be part of that. It is a drawn out scene with little payoff, made even more difficult with having to pay attention to subtitles. And once again, the Klingons are painted as one-dimensional. We know little about T’Kuvma — there are some flashbacks to his youth — but not enough to have a legitimate understanding of why he should be taken seriously.

And it doesn’t even matter in the end. He’s shot and killed by Burnham, making him a martyr for the Klingon cause, which seemed to barely exist until that day. There’s nothing here akin to the depth given to the Cardassians in “Deep Space Nine,” which made the stakes seem higher during the Dominion War story arc.

We barely know anything about any characters other than Burnham and Georgiou. Saru barely had any lines. We never really got to know Georgiou or what her back story is before she is stabbed by T’Kuvma.

Most of the screen time is dedicated to a battle between Starfleet and Klingon ships and, as Q would say, “dull, plodding, pedantic” Klingon speeches.

Either way, the show’s hero — which is supposed to be Burnham — is sentenced to life in prison at the end of the episode. (In the teaser for next week’s episode, we get some hints as to how she will get out.) After two episodes, several central characters are already dead. The writers are taking risks and should receive some credit for that. But whether viewers will be able to get behind Burnham when we don’t know much about the rest of the ensemble remains to be seen.

What worked

1. Once again, the visual effects are superb. The battle between the Federation and the Klingon fleet is remarkable for a TV series. A tip of the cap to the writers for not using a familiar “Trek” trope — having a major ship’s shields go down after one or two phaser blasts for the sake of the plot. This battle seemed more conceivable than past ones.

2. Saru makes the most of minimal screen time. When he devises the plan to attach a torpedo to a transport as a workaround to not having weapons, he is charmingly taken aback when Georgiou says the maneuver is “very devious,” and adds that she approves. A few minutes later, when Georgiou essentially says she would be going on a suicide mission to detonate the warheads, Saru’s “Captain!” was measured and alarmed at the same time. A fine piece of acting by Doug Jones.

What didn’t work

1. Burnham outwitting the computer to escape the brig stretched disbelief, especially when you consider that in “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” Kirk, Spock and McCoy had to decipher Scotty using Morse code. (I realize that many “Trek” fans would prefer “Final Frontier” never be referred to again.)

2. The hologram technology is a serious issue. When Admiral Anderson appears on the Shenzou’s bridge, he then turns around to address the Klingons from the bridge of the Shenzou. What is he doing? Where is his body standing? When all the Klingon houses transmit holograms to speak to T’Kuvma, how do they know where to stand so that the holograms aren’t on top of each other? And again: this technology has scant use in future “Trek” series.

Callbacks

1. When Burnham escapes the brig by essentially launching herself through space, I was reminded of Data doing the same in “Nemesis” shortly before his death.

2. Reader David Smagula sent this email:

My favorite “Star Trek” callback from “Star Trek: Discovery” (really we should call it quality continuity) has to do with the fact that they point out that the Battle at the Binary Stars takes place about six light years from Gamma Hydra.

The Gamma Hydra system and sector will eventually be the location of the Klingon/Federation Neutral Zone as established in the original series.

As an even more fun fact, Gamma Hydra is also referenced in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” when Lt. Saavik takes the Kobyashi Maru Scenario simulation which, of course, deals with the rescue of the disabled freighter within the Neutral Zone.

My second favorite thing is how “Discovery” is set at Stardate 1207.3 or the Earth year 2256.

This is two years after the events of the original “Star Trek” pilot, later recounted in the episode “The Cage.” That’s the one where Captain Pike leads the Enterprise to Talas IV and meets the Talosians that later feature in the great two-part episode, “The Menagerie.”